Nature and Legal Meaning of Insurance in Nigeria

A commercial bus clips a pedestrian in Ikeja. The driver points to the insurance sticker on his windscreen and says the victim will be paid. Whether that is true depends on a question that looks basic and that Nigerian law has never fully settled: what exactly is insurance? If the sticker represents a genuine contract of insurance, the victim has a claim against a solvent fund. If it is a fake certificate, or a product that only looks like insurance, the victim has nothing but a damaged leg and a driver who has disappeared. This article explains what insurance is, how...